While Blake suffocated in the deafening silence of the clinic, White found herself standing in an awkward silence in the owner's office.

After leaving the clinic, she had made a round of the building to make sure everyone had gotten the message that the Theater was closed today. A couple of the more irresponsible chorus girls hadn't, and they were quite relieved when White told them they could go home until further notice. Beyond them, the only people she could find in the building were Sun, Moon, and the janitors.

Satisfied, White had headed to the owner's office to try organizing the catastrophic mess of papers a bit before she had to meet Anabel. During their conversation the night before, she'd made a mental note to work on getting the office in order; the Theater's temporary closure was the perfect time for her to start. But when she glanced at her desk after entering, she froze.

There was someone sitting in the middle of it.

His piercing red eyes transfixed her for a moment, and she quickly dropped her gaze, feigning interest in the rest of his outfit. Red track jacket, tight black pants – just like he had been wearing the first time she met him. He had added a pair of black tennis shoes and a black backpack to his ensemble. She could clearly see the pair of fingerless black gloves on his hands as he drummed his fingers on his leg. He wasn't wearing anything on his head, so she could see his wispy, blue, spiked head of hair. Finally, her gaze returned to his eyes and the intimidating full-face black mask that surrounded them.

Her initial shock was, naturally, accompanied by curiosity about why he was there. Those were closely followed by a strange sense of relief that he was still healthy enough to make it up to her office. Finally, she felt a twinge of guilt that, while she had convinced Blake to finally reveal the truth about the reason he had come to Unova to Whitley, Hugh still knew nothing of his deception.

After a full minute of silence, he finally said, "I have a favor to ask of you before I go."

White blinked at him. "Go? Go where?"

He didn't respond, instead uncrossing his legs and sliding off the desk. He stepped to the side and gestured to something on the desk. "I purchased these for Whitley," he stated. "I wish for her to keep them. I trust you to ensure they are brought to her."

White stepped forward and examined the items – a blouse, a skirt, and two ponytail holders with a pair of short ribbons attached. When she glanced back up, Hugh's arms were folded, and he was looking at her expectantly.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Um…" She looked down at the clothes, then back at him. "Why can't you deliver them yourself?"

"That was my original plan," he replied. "But her Foongus spent the whole night guarding her, and I knew trying to confront him could only end poorly. It seemed that thing would never fall asleep, so I decided I'd have to ask you to deliver them for me instead."

"Well, he has to sleep sometime," White said, eyeing him suspiciously. "Plus, Foongy doesn't stay in her room all the time. Why can't you just leave them in her room later?"

"Because I'm leaving now," Hugh replied tersely.

White felt like she'd just been blindsided by a Linebacker. "You're…leaving? But this is your home! Where else can you go?"

Hugh shrugged. "To another region, perhaps? It's becoming harder to find places in Unova where I have no history. I can find a new place to live, but I cannot stay here while she is here with him. I will not attempt to intrude on their happiness any longer."

White stared at him, then at the ground. She didn't want Hugh to leave so that Blake and Whitley could be together when she knew they wouldn't be together much longer. But on the other hand, it might be better if Hugh left the Theater so that no one would have to worry about the Phantom returning. How did White personally feel about him leaving? The honest truth was that she missed her old friend; she wanted him to stay so they could try to repair their friendship. She certainly didn't want him moving to another region where she'd likely never see him again. But the way their last two interactions had gone, she suspected that he wasn't interested in being her friend again. And it really wouldn't be wise to keep him around if that was the case.

Finally, she decided it was best not to push him in the other direction. If he wanted to leave, whatever the reason, she would let him. She was no longer his boss; she was no longer his friend. It wasn't her place to try to change his mind. She asked simply, "So, if you're leaving, why only the backpack? Isn't there more you want to take?"

Hugh shook his head. "The backpack has my essentials and valuables in it. I don't need anything else. And…that's the other reason I'm here." He leaned back against White's desk. "Everything that I didn't put in this backpack is still down in my home. You're welcome to do whatever you like with them – give them to the Theater, keep them for yourself, or whatever else you can think of. Consider it a thank-you gift for keeping it a secret all these years."

White's brow furrowed slightly. Hugh hadn't been the type to express his gratitude through a gift when they were still friends. "Well…you're welcome," she said. His sudden generosity couldn't be a bad thing.

Having nothing more to say, Hugh headed towards the closet. He'd entered the office through the attic and planned to leave it the same way. There weren't many people around, but he still didn't want to accidentally run into someone who was on edge from his actions the previous night.

"So, I guess this is goodbye?" White asked.

Hugh turned the doorknob and opened the closet door. "Correct," he said, not looking back at White.

"We'll never see each other again, then?"

"Perhaps," he mused, glancing back at her. "Or perhaps I'll come back someday. Once I've fixed myself." Then, he noticed the outfit for Whitley lying on White's desk and remembered that she'd never actually agreed to deliver it. "You will bring those clothes to Whitley, correct?"

Before White could respond, Sun suddenly burst into the office. "Ms. Lefévre!" he exclaimed. "We need your help!"

"What's the matter?" White asked, turning to face him. Hugh had thrown himself into the closet as soon as he heard the door open, so Sun couldn't see him. She hoped that the fact that she hadn't answered Hugh's question would be enough to keep him from leaving before she could ask him what he meant by "fixing himself".

"The antidote Moon administered didn't work," he explained quickly. "To the viscount's ankle, that is. It only agitated the puncture wounds, and they're bleeding again. We need–"

"Nancy," White cut him off, reaching for her Poké Balls. Alomomola had the ability to create a special mucus that heals wounds, and White lent hers to Moon whenever someone had a small wound that needed healing. She tossed Nancy's Poké Ball to Sun. "Is that all?"

"Yes," Sun said, but his response was drowned out by a louder, more resonant voice.

"Does she know how to treat the poison now?"

Sun yelped and jumped back, staring in the direction of the voice with wide eyes. "It's the Phantom!"

"Yes, and he raises a good point," White said calmly, though her whole body had gone rigid. "You said the antidote didn't work…so is Moon making a new one?"

"Sh-she has to figure out what the poison is first," he said rapidly. "But once she does, she'll be able to make an antidote easily. She loves studying different poisons, you know."

"Return to Moon with the Pokémon for the viscount. I will take care of the antidote."

Sun glanced at White for guidance, and she merely glanced at the time on her Xtransceiver. "Do you know who Anabel is?" Sun shook his head. "Long purple hair, spiffy black suit, totally commanding presence. You can't miss her. She's waiting for me outside the clinic – apologize to her for me and tell her I can't make it." Sun stared at her blankly until she finally shooed him away and shut the door.

Hugh emerged from the closet as soon as Sun had left. White turned to face him and opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it. "Your intern's girlfriend," he said. "Does she still live on Route 4?"

"Does…what?" White said blankly. "How should I know?"

"She used to work for you," he said, glancing at the filing cabinets in the back corner of the room.

"Crystal?" He nodded assent, and White rubbed her temples. She had seen the blue-haired woman with Gold a few times, but she didn't remember having the girl in her employ before. Or, wait…hadn't she been a janitor for a couple of years? But still… "I don't know where she lives!"

He hummed impatiently, approaching the filing cabinets. "Maybe it'll be in his employee file."

White watched with a mix of awe and irritation as Hugh unlocked the filing cabinet and began flicking through the files inside with practiced ease. He only checked a few files in the first drawer before closing it and kneeling beside the cabinet. He shoved aside the papers in front of the bottom drawer and pulled it open. He skipped around a bit before finally pulling out a manila file folder.

"Here it is. Emergency contacts…yes, it's the same address. Perfect."

Hugh realigned the papers in the folder and moved to put it away. "I don't understand," White said with a sigh. "Why did you need to look up Crystal's address?"

"It's been eight years," he responded casually. "Things can change a lot in that time."

"Eight years…since what?" White said, following him towards the closet. "And what does this have to do with getting an antidote for Blake?" A thought suddenly struck her. "You…you are getting the antidote for Blake, right?"

"Yes," he said irritably. "I didn't intend to do him any permanent damage."

"So what does this have to do with that?"

"Tochukaso."

White stared at him in bewilderment as he entered her closet. When he offered no clarification to his cryptic answer, she finally asked, "What's tochukaso?"

Hugh grinned to himself and turned around to face White. "You don't know? I thought you were a Pokédex holder."

"If that's a Pokémon, I've never heard of it," White retorted.

He smirked under the mask. "It's not. But if you look up the Pokédex entry for a Pokémon called Paras, you'd find out."

"I don't have my Pokédex on me," she admitted. "Can't you just tell me?"

Hugh sighed exaggeratedly, as though this were a terrible inconvenience. "I suppose," he said. "The mushrooms on Paras's back are called tochukaso. When a Paras evolves into Parasect, the tochukaso starts scattering toxic spores, but there's also a way to turn the spores into medicine."

"Oh!" White exclaimed as the pieces started clicking into place. "Let me guess. The poison that you used on Blake was tochukaso spores, so you need tochukaso spores to make the antidote. And Crystal has a Parasect, which produces tochukaso spores. Am I right?"

"Precisely," Hugh said, snapping his fingers. "Good to see you haven't lost all your brain cells. After you hired those boneheaded managers, I was a little concerned."

"Aw, you were concerned about me? I'm touched!"

Hugh turned his head away sharply, and White's teasing grin faded. He may have been starting to act friendlier towards her, but her attempts at best-friend banter might have come off a little too strong. He might be staying a little longer to get the antidote for Blake, but that didn't mean he was going to stay for good. It wasn't like they could ever get that close again.

Hugh cleared his throat. "I will need your assistance to retrieve the antidote. Will you come with me?"

He glanced back at her, grateful to the mask that hid any evidence of fear that might have shown on his face. He didn't expect her to want to come with him, especially after how awkwardly her attempt at playful banter had ended. But as fun as it was, slipping back into that old routine only reminded him painfully that he wasn't her trusted advisor and friend anymore. He wished he had thought to ask her to come with him before he told her why they needed to see Crystal; curiosity might have been enough to convince her to help him. If she refused, then he'd have to retrieve the antidote alone.

And he hated to work alone.

So, when White said, "Of course I will", Hugh felt relief flood through his limbs. "Let's go get that antidote," she said with a half-smile.

Under the mask, Hugh gave her a half-smile in return.

A/N: Hugh and White. Man, do they have a complicated relationship. And I love it. I actually debated for a while whether I wanted their relationship to go a romantic route or have it be more like a brother-sister love. But I knew I didn't want White to romance Hugh if she couldn't tolerate his face, and I didn't want to muddle Hugh's emotions even more by throwing a new sister figure into the mix. Thus, an advisor/friends relationship seemed most fitting.

Hugh's outfit is pretty much identical to his in-game outfit at this point, just with thinner hair and the addition of the mask. Also, I've always loved the fact that the mushrooms on Paras's back are actually given a name in the Pokédex - all that information that Hugh gives comes from Paras and Parasect's Gen V Dex entries (with the exception of the turning spores into medicine part, which is only mentioned in a few of Parasect's entries from other games). Paras's Ultra Moon Pokédex entry may be my favorite Pokédex entry for a Pokémon ever: The mushrooms, known as tochukaso, are controlling the bug. Even if the bug bugs the mushrooms, they tell it to bug off.

Up next: Getting the antidote is a cinch, but there's something more important than Blake's ankle that needs healing...